Tribes: Federal Salmon Plan 'Unacceptable'

The Columbia River treaty tribes have greeted the latest federal salmon
recovery plan with disdain, saying it ignores science and the federal
government's treaty responsibilities to the tribes.

"It is essentially a status quo BiOp," said Charles Hudson, spokesman
for the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He said the document
virtually ignores input provide by the 13 Basin tribes over the past
year during a series of intensive consultations. "Our concerns remain
unaddressed."

"It is unacceptable," Hudson said of the final National Marine Fisheries
Service Columbia Basin hydrosystem biological opinion released Thursday.
The federal plan includes a basinwide recovery strategy developed by a
caucus of nine federal agencies. That "All-H" describes actions that can
be taken to reduce salmon and steelhead mortality in the hydrosystem,
through habitat improvements, and with changed hatchery and harvest
management.

The federal recovery plan sets back a decision on whether to pursue
breaching of four Lower Snake River dams for at least three years.

"I think the tribes have made things quite clear to the federal agencies
over the past year" that the plan would be challenged if their concerns
were not met, Hudson said.

"The tribes are probably going to be forced into a legal challenge to
this," he said. "That's not what we wanted. But this may be a case where
we're forced to."

Rob Smith of the Nez Perce Tribe's legal counsel's office agreed.

"The next step will have to be to pursue some legal action," Smith said.
Since the documents are now "final," the tribes' options for bringing
change to the recovery effort are limited, he said.

"Tribal input is not reflected in these plans," said Samuel N. Penney,
chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. "Habitat restoration, reduced harvest,
and flow augmentation cannot lead to successful recovery if salmon are
not able to survive the dams."

Penney said "consistently choosing the path of least political
resistance is disappointing, especially when the weight of scientific
evidence supports breaching and the future of an entire species is at
stake."

The Nez Perce Tribe believes, Penney said, that the best science
supports breaching the dams. He cited a letter signed by 215 scientists
that last week urged President Clinton to strengthen elements of the
plan that would trigger dam breaching.

"Detailed scientific studies have determined that breaching is the
option with the highest probability of restoring healthy salmon
populations," Penney said. "Time is running out on the salmon.
Re-examining whether breaching is an option five or 10 years from now
will be too late."

CRITFC this week advised the Bureau of Indian Affairs not to endorse
federal salmon recovery plans that "reflect the work of agencies
protecting their own missions rather than restoration of salmon
populations."

CRITFC said the BIA should not sign a federal "memorandum of
understanding" that describes the process to be used to coordinate and
implement the recovery strategy. The document was released Thursday
along with the BiOps and recovery strategy.

In a letter to Kevin Gover, assistant BIA secretary, Donald Sampson,
CRITFC executive director, explained why the member tribes could not
support the recovery plan. Sampson said that by signing the agreement,
the BIA would be obligating itself to actions that run contrary to
federal treaty and trust responsibilities to the tribes.

"They (BIA officials) told us that they've not signed the MOU" because
of concerns that the strategy inadequately addresses treaty
responsibilities, Hudson said. The BIA's Northwest regional office did
not return CBB calls to inquire whether or not the agency intended to
sign the document.

Supporting analyses indicate that the federal recovery strategy will not
lead to restoration of treaty fisheries, according to CRITFC. "Instead,
the analyses indicate 'preventing severe decline' as the sole objective…
a goal the tribes say is self-serving and ultimately meaningless to the
people of the Northwest."

The treaty tribes also scoff at the notion that their consultations with
federal agencies produced any meaningful results.

"If they suggest that tribal input is reflected in these plans we
haven't seen it," said Randy Settler, Yakama Nation Fish and Wildlife
Committee chair and member of the government-to-government consultation
effort. Federal plans have failed to integrate tribal recommendations
submitted during yearlong policy and technical consultations with top
officials of the Clinton Administration, he said.

"The fact that they failed to use artificial production to rebuild runs
tells us that they're not interested in what's working in places like
the Umatilla, Clearwater and Yakima basins," said Sampson.

The tribes have been outspoken opponents of federal policies requiring
destruction of so-called 'surplus' hatchery fish -- policies the tribes
say squander not only tribal and public resources, but also
opportunities to rebuild runs. Under the current policies, tens of
thousands of 'surplus' spring chinook will be killed in 2001 --
undoubtedly provoking public outrage as it did in the past year,
according to a CRITFC press release.

The federal failure to incorporate regional recommendations is in stark
contrast to recent agreements and alignment of goals and objectives by
Northwest states and tribes, according to CRITFC. The Northwest Power
Planning Council and the tribes set mutual rebuilding goals of five
million fish in 25 years through a blend of innovative state and tribal
projects -- some opposed by the NMFS.

"The federal government is taking a regulate-for-scarcity approach just
as we're breaking through on a collaboration-for-abundance plan with the
states. The federal agencies can help this effort through less
interference and foot-dragging," said Olney Patt, Jr., CRITFC chairman.

"The Recovery Strategy will indefinitely 'cap' Indian fisheries at token
levels and would displace Indian fishers from their usual and accustomed
fishing places to implement selective fisheries," Sampson said in his
letter to Gover. It also focuses on off-site actions "instead of taking
further measures to reduce salmon impacts at the dams. Consideration for
breaching the Snake Dams is deferred 10 years."

CRITFC is the technical coordinating agency for the Columbia River
treaty tribes -- Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce and Warm Springs.